Fairhaven youth baseball community remembers John Sinko

When the world lost John Sinko a month ago, youth baseball in Fairhaven lost one of its best friends. Whether as a coach or an umpire, Sinko loved the game and every kid who played it.

TIM WEISBERG

When the world lost John Sinko a month ago, youth baseball in Fairhaven lost one of its best friends. Whether as a coach or an umpire, Sinko loved the game and every kid who played it.

"At a time when most people don't want to look past their own backyard, John was someone who always gave more," said longtime friend Myles Carroll. "People should emulate John, because he's what's right about Little League. I always say the only thing you can get out of Little League is memories, and John gave us plenty of those."

When Sinko passed away after a long battle with pancreatic cancer on May 7 at the age of 57, he had just umpired a game two nights before, and was due to call one that night. Even after battling the illness for a year and a half, he refused to let it slow him down.

"It may sound corny to say my father was my hero, but he really was," said his son, Tom Sinko. "He got his chemotherapy at home and he had a pack he had to wear, but he'd still get on his bike and ride to work — he never missed a day of work unless it was for a surgery — and would still umpire games. His thought was, 'why should I sit at home?'"

Sinko first got involved with youth baseball about 25 years ago, when his oldest son Jeff, now 30 years old, signed up for tee-ball. Tom, now 28, followed a few years later. He coached them all through their years in Little League, winning three championships in that time.

"We were glad to share that with him, because he was always like a big kid on the field. Sometimes when we won, he was more excited than we were," Tom said. "But as we got older, he always told us, 'It's your team. I'm just here because the league says we need an adult here.' He always consulted with the older kids and included us in the decisions."

Sinko also took on administrative roles within the organization, because he wanted to do all he could for the kids.

"John's theory was that you can't sign kids up for things and expect people to give their time if you're not willing to give your own time," said his wife, Terry. "And you have to be fair about it, and John always was. One time, some parents were sitting next to me and didn't know I was the coach's wife. They were complaining about their kid sitting on the bench, and I said, "See that kid sitting next to your kid on the bench? That's the coach's son. He's on the bench too.'"

Sinko also coached his kids in other sports as well, taking on basketball or soccer duties as needed. Even when his boys reached high school, he couldn't stay off the field.

"I played football and basketball and my brother ran track, and he was still almost always there," Tom said. "He even joined the chain gang for the football games. Sports were just always one of the connections between us."

Sinko also decided to stay involved in youth baseball by becoming an umpire. But even then, the coach in him always shone through.

"It didn't matter if the kid played for Fairhaven or against Fairhaven, John never stopped teaching the game," Carroll said. "He was forever telling a catcher to pick up his glove, or telling the batter to bring his foot back in his stance. It never stopped."

"He'd go to work, bring his umpire clothes, change at work, eat an apple on the way and call a game before he ever made it home," Tom said. "He loved it. He loved the kids and they loved him. If they made a big play, he'd be the first to give them a high-five even though he was an umpire."

Tom Sinko said that while his father "may not have been the best athlete" growing up, John had cherished memories of riding his bike to Knox Field in Acushnet for his Little League games. John also was an avid runner, a member of the Greater New Bedford Track Club who ran the Boston Marathon four times, and also enjoyed biking and kayaking.

"He was just a regular guy, but I was fortunate to have him as my father because he always supported whatever my brother and I wanted to do," Tom said. "It just so happened we were also into sports, but no matter what it was — if we wanted to do ballet, he would have supported us. He was always there for us, and some kids don't have that growing up.

"I think a lot of it was because he was adopted, and his adoptive father died when he was 7 years old. He didn't have many memories of him, so he made his own way, and defined being a dad himself."

And that's how John Sinko saw himself — as a dad, a husband, a coach, an umpire — but never as a victim of the horrible illness that took him too soon.

"There was that shock that comes when you find out you have cancer, but that only lasted about a day or so," Terry said. "Then it was just doing what the doctors said to do, and staying upbeat and positive. The last couple of months, I think reality set it, but he was determined to just keep doing what he wanted until he couldn't any more. He never gave up, and never looked at it as a hopeless situation."

"My wife said it best — John lived until he died," Carroll said. "This horrible battle with cancer, it didn't stop him, it didn't define him. He just kept going."

"He thought he was going to just keep going until he died," Terry said. "And that's exactly what he did."

Carroll, who worked with Sinko at the Shuster Corporation for the past 10 years, said Sinko came to work on the morning of May 7 but went home sick. He passed away less than 24 hours later.

"He had just umpired my grandson's game the night before, and then he was gone," Carroll said.

The night of his death, the Fairhaven Acushnet Little League honored Sinko with a moment of silence, after which all of the umpires removed their caps and placed them on the first base line, where Sinko was often found hanging out between innings, for the entire game.

The league also "passed the hat" and took up a collection to help the family with Sinko's final expenses, raising what Terry called "a substantial amount."

"They rallied around us, and it's overwhelming, because we didn't even know many of these people," Tom said. "It just shows how strong his sense of community was, how much everyone cared for my father. It's a testament to the man he was."

At Sinko's wake, dozens of former players, parents, coaches and other umpires were in attendance, but the family was truly surprised to see entire teams of players arriving, in full uniform, to pay tribute to the man they all knew simply as "John."

"That was very, very touching, and it meant the world to us," Terry said. "And the tributes continued. A neighbor went to the cemetery the day after his funeral and saw a bunch of guys around his gravesite. They'd left a baseball on it and had written, "We miss you. Blue (in reference to the color shirt he wore as an umpire). One team had all the kids sign a baseball and present it to me. It's just been overwhelming."

And the memory of John Sinko will last for a long time around Fairhaven baseball, as there are even more plans to honor him in the future. Even though, of course, Sinko wouldn't have wanted any of the attention himself.

"Are you kidding me? John wouldn't have liked any of this crap," Carroll said with a laugh. "But we'll do it anyway, because we all loved him and miss him."